Ghosts New and Old
by CHPrime
Summary: Years into their marriage, Dimitri continues to be haunted by the voices of the dead. Byleth does what she can to help him, even when a new ghost comes to shadow her husband.


Byleth gently held her husband as dawn rose. The bruised color under Dimtri's glazed eye remained. Byleth held him closer, slowly burying herself in the crook of his neck. It was a routine Byleth performed once every few moons, when the voices in Dimitri's mind would grow unbearably loud.

Dimitri never tossed or turned during the nights when his ghosts returned to haunt him. He would only stare off into a distance Byleth could not see. Come morning, Dimitri would mechanically rise from bed and tell Byleth and Dedue that he was fine, but Dimitri could never hide his restlessness.

It was a battle he had to fight alone, and at the pleasure and time of the dead. Byleth longed to strike down Dimitri's specters, but she had to resign herself to holding him tightly until his episodes past.

During his hauntings, Byleth would try and watch Dimitri's face, as it lay frozen in guilt. Inevitably, she would feel her own heart become swallowed with grief. Then, the look Dimitri would give her once he awoke would make her break all over again, as he begged forgiveness for making her weep.

In the end, all Byleth could do was to hold Dimitri tight, and help him try to let his weary heart rest.

"…Ah. Good morning, beloved." Byleth raised her head from Dimitri's shoulder at the sound of his voice. Dimitri's eye still showed it's weariness for the world to see, but his soft smile held firm.

Dimitri leaned in as Byleth moved forward to place a kiss on his lips. "A better morning now."

They quietly pulled apart, before Dimitri embraced her. Byleth let out a small happy sound as she shielded Dimitri's tired eye from the morning sun with the crook of her neck.

The couple laid next to each other for a precious few minutes more. Byleth gently stroked Dimitri's hair, while Dimitri quietly tried to regain some lost rest in her embrace.

"Beloved…" Dimitri raised his eye to meet hers. He was subtly frowning. It reminded Byleth of her own when Ingrid and Annette had made her practice her wedding vows in front of a mirror.

Byleth returned to gently stroking Dimitri's hair. "Yes?"

"…I would…" Dimitri quietly sucked in a breath. "…I would like to try…" Dimitri closed his eyes and exhaled. "…To talk to you about my nightmares, at least one more time."

Byleth gently and firmly wrapped her arms around Dimitri's shoulders.

Dimitri closed his eye. It still looked heavy, but Byleth could tell the brief rest had done them some good.

"I no longer hear my stepmother's voice among the chorus of the dead."

Byleth blinked. Dimitri's face had not lost its nervous edge.

"Why does that frighten you?" Byleth asked.

Dimitri let out a shudder. "I don't know. It's one less ghost, one less voice. Perhaps it means she is still alive, somewhere…" His breath hitched. Byleth placed his head in the palm of her hands, steading him.

Dimitri took a deep breath. "It feels…uncertain. I don't know how to react. Perhaps the others will follow her, or perhaps they will grow louder to fill in her silence, but…" Dimitri looked away. Byleth held on.

"What worries me is who replaced her."

"Replaced-who replaced her?"

"Edelgard."

Byleth felt mute. Dimitri did not squirm under her stare.

"…What does she tell you?"

"Nothing."

Byleth brushed stray hair away from Dimitri's face. "Do you want to tell me about it?" She noticed a few strands had found their way underneath Dimitri's eye patch, and brushed them aside. "Do you want to talk about her?"

Dimitri met Byleth's gaze. Slowly, the words dribbled out. "…When I close my eye, I see her. Sometimes I see her as emperor. Other times, she is in her school uniform."

Dimitri fell quiet for some time. "…Last night, I saw her as a child. When I knew her."

Byleth was quiet. Dimitri turned his gaze upward before continuing.

"All of them have the same expression on their face whenever I see them. It's the frown she would give me whenever I did something wrong. She would always explain which step I had missed, what parts of my training exorcise was incorrect. And I keep waiting for her to say something, anything, to join the countless dead, to tell me what a fool I am, to say how wrong I was to do anything we have done in these past years, but-" Dimitri's breath hitched. "-It never comes. She just keeps staring at me. And I can't help but stare back. I just…" Dimitri paused, eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"Now that I tell you about it, there was something different about her. She still projected strength, she still held herself as Edelgard did, but…" Dimitri rolled his head back to look at Byleth. "I felt sorrow hiding in her eyes."

Byleth looked up at the ceiling, looking for what Dimitri saw.

"I heard Sothis' voice."

Dimitri blinked. "Yes, you told me, before the fight with Solon, then you two became one, and heard her no more."

"No, even afterwards."

Dimitri sat up. "You still hear the voice of the Goddess?"

"…Just twice, I think."

Dimitri nearly stuttered out his next word. "When?"

Byleth sighed. "The first time was when she awoke me from my slumber. During the...millennium festival."

Dimitri's shoulders stiffened at the memory, before letting the tension escape his body. "And the second time?"

Byleth looked at Dimitri. "It was when we proposed to each other. As we left, I thought I heard Sothis whisper something."

Byleth let out a small sigh. "I can't remember what she said then. No matter how hard I try, her words won't come to me."

Dimitri sat on the bed next to Byleth, reaching out to hold her hand. Byleth returned his gesture, and the two sat quietly for a short eternity.

"Dimitri."

"Beloved?"

" I can't find a way to free you from your hauntings," Byleth turned to face Dimitri. "And I don't know what this recent development means, if it means anything. But I will always be here to heal with you. No matter how many restless nights you have. No matter how many times it feels to much for you, know I will always be there for you."

The smile DImitri gave as Byleth pulled him into a kiss was brilliant enough to last in Byleth's memory for a lifetime.

* * *

I really just needed to write something to break from my apathy. It's apparently a theme week with these two around these parts, so we'll all call it a tie-in.


End file.
